HUGHTON: GAME CAME AT THE RIGHT TIME

Albion's manager on the test provided by Lazio, his team's performance and a look ahead to Derby.

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton believes the match against Lazio came at the right time for his squad, after a narrow 1-0 defeat to Simone Inzaghi’s side at the Amex.

There was a suspicion of offside in Ravel Morrison’s 26th-minute winner for the Serie A side, but Hughton was keen to highlight the positives and praised the endeavour from his squad.

He said, “It was certainly a very good game for us and what we needed. We were on the back of a good performance at Oxford, but this is very much a step up against quality opposition and over the 90 minutes, I thought we fared well.

“It was a difficult goal that we conceded. We’ll certainly speak to the referee about it because we need to know.

“On the balance of play we had the better chances and it was disappointing that we didn’t score, but it was certainly the level of game we needed.

“We wanted to start well and knew the quality that they have got. Over the 90 minutes, it was a really good test for us.”

The Seagulls boss says he is still weighing up different combinations in attack, with Glenn Murray and Tomer Hemed starting up top before the introduction of Sam Baldock on the hour mark.

“This pre-season period is a chance to look at things. If I look at last season, then Sam Baldock and Tomer played a lot of games together.

“They are two that are used to playing and today was an opportunity to see Glenn and Tomer playing together against good quality opposition.

“We are now going into a very tough first few weeks of the season. We’ve got to use this squad and look at the combinations that we’ve got.”

Hughton expects Steve Sidwell to be available for the first game of the season against Derby after he picked up a slight knock, but Albion will make the trip without Connor Goldson (knee) and the suspended Dale Stephens.

“Steve Sidwell will be available for the first game of the season. We also have Rohan Ince, who did very well and has had a decent pre-season. Dale will be available after the Derby game.

“At the moment we’re pushing to get Connor fit as quickly as we can. But we do have Bruno, who’s very experienced and can play there, and young Ben White, who came on with about 15 minutes to go.

“We also brought Ben Hall in during this summer, so we do have some options. Bruno is the more experienced of all the options and we will see how this week goes.”